Developing a model of enterprise training : a study of the factors which influence training decision-making in Australian enterprises

In recent years, the improvement of training provision at the level of the enterprise has become a major policy focus for national governments in the developed world. The creation of a skilled workforce has been viewed as an essential element in developing sustainable competitive advantage at the national and the enterprise level in the face of increasing global competition. However, there has been little research conducted into the operation of training in enterprises and, in particular, into the factors that influence the process of training decision-making. As a result, there is a lack of coherent theory to account for factors that influence training within enterprises. This lack of understanding of the operation of training has inhibited the development of theory and policy in the area of enterprise training. This thesis pre~ents the results of a study into the factors that influence training decision-making in a range of Australian enterprises. The central research question for the research was "Why do . enterprises train their employees?". This principal question 'yielded four sub-questions which formed the key issues that were investigated in the research. These sub-questions were: I. -What are the goals that enterprises are attempting to achieve with their training? 2. How do training arrangements differ between enterprises and what causes these differences? 3. What are the principal factors on which training decisions are baseq in enterprises and how do these factors interact to affect the training arrangements that finally emerge? 4. What are the links between training and improved performance for enterprises? The lack of well-developed theory made the use of case study an appropriate research methodology for this research. Seven case studies of Australian enterprises were carried out over a period of 3 years focusing on the range of factors which influence training decision-making in enterprises. The results of the research suggest that Australian enterprises are moving away from a "traditional" model of training which emphasised informal, on-the-job delivery of technical training to a "new" model which incorporates an increasingly formalised, off-the~job delivery of a mix of technical and behavioural training to employees. Although the enterprises train their employees primarily to improve their job performance, they also train for a number of other reasons such as improving the progression and retention of employees, increasing the adaptability of the workforce and meeting the demands of business strategy. The choices that enterprises make regarding the type of training they provide is influenced by a range of factors, principally the development of business strategy, technological change, the industrial relations climate in the enterprise and the performance of the enterprise in the market. At the conclusion of the thesis a model is developed that explains how these factors interact with one another to influence training decision-making at the enterprise level. A number of propositions are also developed to serve as the basis for further research